Month: March 2023

If the Cardinals trade their star receiver, he’d be quite productive with one of these five teams.

Wide receiver has become the dominant position in all of fantasy football, as young players like Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase and CeeDee Lamb (to name a few) are lighting up the stat sheets. Unfortunately, NFL teams looking to make a major splash at the position will find it difficult to accomplish as the free agent market is a bit weak heading into the 2023 offseason. With that said, making a big splash trade these days can help fill a void. Look at what Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill did for their respective new teams. Oh, and let’s not forget about the A.J. Brown impact.

One of the bigger names that could be on the market this offseason is DeAndre Hopkins. A long-time fantasy superstar, he missed eight games last year due to a combination of suspension and injuries. When he was active, though, Nuk rattled off 717 yards with three touchdowns and averaged 16.9 fantasy points per game.

Here are five teams that could have a need at wide receiver and would be interesting spots for Hopkins to land next season. Let’s start things off with the NFL champs.

Kansas City Chiefs

The Super Bowl champions lack an alpha wide receiver (not that it mattered), but imagine acquiring Hopkins in the offseason? With JuJu Smith-Schuster and Mecole Hardman slated to become free agents, Kansas City could land Nuk in a “the rich get richer” move. Imagine Hopkins catching passes from Patrick Mahomes in an Andy Reid offense? It’s enough to give Chiefs and fantasy fans statistical chills.

Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys traded away Amari Cooper last offseason hoping that Michael Gallup would pan out as a No. 2 wideout. It didn’t happen. If Dallas truly wants to help Dak Prescott and improve their offense in a division that proved to be one of the NFL’s best last season, grabbing another playmaking receiver to pair with CeeDee Lamb is a must. I’m not sure the Cowboys would do this, but it would be a fun addition in Big D.

Top Five Fantasy Landing Spots: Aaron Rodgers | Jimmy Garoppolo | Saquon Barkley | Tony Pollard | JuJu Smith-Schuster | Miles Sanders | Derek Carr | Lamar Jackson | David Montgomery | Josh Jacobs | Jamaal Williams | Kareem Hunt

Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens always seem to need a wide receiver, right? If Hopkins is available, they’d be foolish not to inquire about the fantasy star. The jury is still out on Rashod Bateman as a pro, and their top wideout from 2022, Demarcus Robinson, is a free agent. Assuming the team retains Lamar Jackson, Hopkins would push for WR1 value in an offense that might not be so run heavy under new offensive coordinator Todd Monken.

New England Patriots

The Patriots could lose Jakobi Meyers and Nelson Agholor as free agents, so they might be looking to acquire a wideout. Hopkins could come right in and be that No. 1 option in the passing game for Mac Jones and would pair pretty nicely with DeVante Parker and Tyquan Thornton. There are questions about Jones and the quarterback position, but the Patriots have a big need at wideout to fill for 2023.

Chicago Bears

Is there any team in the NFL more needy at wide receiver than the Bears? Their “No. 1” wideout, Darnell Mooney, is coming off an ankle injury and isn’t a true alpha. N’Keal Harry and Byron Pringle are slated to become free agents, leaving the team with Mooney, Chase Claypool and Equanimeous St. Brown. If Chicago added Hopkins, it would give Justin Fields a true playmaker in the pass attack.

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Michael Fabiano is an award-winning fantasy football analyst on Sports Illustrated and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA) Hall of Fame. Click here to read all his articles here on SI Fantasy. You can follow Michael on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram for your late-breaking fantasy news and the best analysis in the business to help you win a fantasy championship!

Saquon Barkley is a free agent. Where could he end up next? FOX Bet has the latest hypothetical odds.

There have already been a bunch of big moves before Friday’s deadline.

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland, back from a few days on the beach just in time for the New York area’s first snowstorm of the season.

In today’s SI:AM:

💰 Big spenders in San Diego

🏆 Ranking the NBA’s contenders

🏈 Aaron Rodgers’s first comments since his darkness retreat

If you’re reading this on SI.com, you can sign up to get this free newsletter in your inbox each weekday at SI.com/newsletters.

The Rangers made a big splash

The NHL trade deadline isn’t until Friday at 3 p.m. ET, but the market is already heating up.

The dealing got started early when the Islanders traded for Canucks captain Bo Horvat on Jan. 30. The Blues made two major trades shortly thereafter, sending Vladimir Tarasenko to the Rangers on Feb. 9 and Ryan O’Reilly to the Maple Leafs on Feb. 17.

But the trade market has really picked up in the past few days and promises to remain active until the curtain closes Friday afternoon. Let’s recap the biggest moves made, look at the ones that could still come down and assess what it all means for the Stanley Cup race.

Patrick Kane leaves Chicago

This is the biggest news of the day. After 16 years and three Stanley Cups with the Blackhawks, Chicago traded Kane to the Rangers yesterday. The return was underwhelming. The Rangers gave up a conditional second-round pick that could become a first-rounder if the Rangers reach the Eastern Conference finals this season, a fourth-round pick and Andy Welinski, a 29-year-old defenseman with 46 career NHL games who had been playing for their AHL affiliate. The Coyotes were involved as a third team in the deal for salary cap reasons and got a third-round pick from the Rangers. Arizona also sent the rights to Finnish defenseman Vili Saarijärvi to the Blackhawks.

Chicago might have gotten more for Kane if they had traded him before guys like Horvat, Tarasenko and O’Reilly were taken off the board, but Kane’s contract has a no-movement clause, and so he had to give Chicago permission to deal him. He had long been connected to the Rangers and openly expressed disappointment when New York acquired Tarasenko, seemingly closing the door to a trade there. But when the Tarasenko trade was made, Kane had not yet informed the Blackhawks whether he would consent to a trade. As a result, Chicago had to settle for a lesser trade package.

The trade gives the Rangers another offensive weapon as they try to keep pace in a loaded Eastern Conference. They’re currently in third place in the Metropolitan Division with 77 points, seven points ahead of the Islanders, which hold the top wild-card spot. By comparison, no team in the West has more than 76 points, so the Eastern Conference playoffs are going to be a gantlet.

Devils land Timo Meier

Given how competitive the conference is, it isn’t a surprise that one of the biggest trades made thus far involved another team from the East. On Sunday, the Devils got winger Timo Meier from the Sharks in a deal that involved other NHL players, prospects and draft compensation. Meier had been one of the top players available on the trade market and will give the Devils a boost as they look to overtake the Hurricanes for first place in the Metropolitan Division.

Other notable moves

The Oilers, one of the best offensive teams in the league, upgraded their mediocre defense yesterday by acquiring veteran defenseman Mattias Ekholm from the Predators. The Kings made a significant move this morning, acquiring goalie Joonas Korpisalo and defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov from the Blue Jackets in exchange for goalie Jonathan Quick and a first-round pick. Quick, 37, won two Stanley Cups with Los Angeles but is having the worst season of his career.

Potential moves to watch

Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun has had his name thrown out in all sorts of trade rumors for about a year, but Arizona has yet to find a landing spot for the 24-year-old. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that the Capitals, Sabres and Penguins remain involved in talks about Chychrun. With many top players having already been dealt, Chychrun is the biggest prize left out there.

The best of Sports Illustrated

• In today’s Daily Cover, Stephanie Apstein looks at how the Padres have abandoned their reputation as a small-market team and started spending big.
• Rohan Nadkarni thinks these 11 teams are the only real contenders to win the NBA Finals.
• LeBron James’s injury shows that the Lakers should have acted sooner to retool their roster, Chris Herring writes.
• Conor Orr argues that the Colts need to trade for the No. 1 pick and take Bryce Young, or else the division-rival Texans will make them regret it.
• Madison Williams spoke to 103-year-old Loyola Chicago icon Sister Jean, who has a book coming out.
• Aaron Rodgers says he hasn’t made a decision yet about his NFL future.
• Commanders owner Dan Snyder has another controversy on his hands, this time involving a secret $55 million loan.
• Browns GM Andrew Berry said the team could restructure Deshaun Watson’s contract.

The top five…

… things I saw yesterday:

5. Charlie McAvoy’s goal with four seconds left in overtime to give the Bruins yet another win.

4. Antoine Davis’s 38 points in Detroit Mercy’s first-round Horizon League tournament win. He’s just 26 points away from tying Pete Maravich’s men’s NCAA scoring record.

3. The Pirates and Orioles’ playing a meaningless bottom of the ninth without umpires. (Pittsburgh announcers Joe Block and Neil Walker had a lot of fun with it.)

2. Jaren Jackson Jr.’s emphatic putback dunk.

1. Shaedon Sharpe’s poster dunk on Draymond Green.

SIQ

On this day in 1968, strong winds blew the roof off which city’s brand-new arena, forcing the local NBA and NHL teams to play elsewhere for a month?

• Philadelphia
• New York
• Chicago
• Detroit

Yesterday’s SIQ: On this day in 1959, the Rams and Cardinals made one of the biggest trades in NFL history. How many players did Los Angeles give up to acquire running back Ollie Matson?

• 7
• 9
• 11
• 13

Answer: 9. Chicago got halfback Don Brown, tackle Frank Fuller, defensive tackle Art Hauser, fullback Larry Hickman, defensive end Glenn Holtzman, tackle Ken Panfil, end John Tracey, a second-round draft pick and another player to be decided upon during that summer’s training camp. The telegram the Rams sent to the NFL informing the league of the trade is now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Trading nine players in exchange for one seems drastic, but the Rams actually pulled off an even bigger trade a few years earlier. In 1952 the team sent 11 players to the Dallas Texans in exchange for linebacker Les Richter.

If anybody was worth trading away almost a whole lineup to acquire it was Matson. He had won two medals as a sprinter at the 1952 Olympics before beginning his 14-year NFL career. Matson, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in ’72, finished third in the NFL with 863 rushing yards in his first season with the Rams.

The trade was orchestrated by Pete Rozelle, the longtime NFL commissioner who at the time was the general manager of the Rams. Rozelle had been the sports information director at the University of San Francisco when Matson starred there, leading the nation with 1,566 rushing yards as a senior in 1951.

That Dons team was loaded with talent, sending eight players to the NFL at a time when the 12-team league’s smaller rosters made that unfathomable. The headline of a 1990 Sports Illustrated article by Ron Fimrite called the Dons the “Best Team You Never Heard Of.”